My eye was caught by an advertisement online ... Tour of Crumlin Road Jail. Hmmmm? Really. I have childhood memories of the prison looking grim and uninviting and definitely somewhere you did not want to end up visiting for a peep or even longer for a sentence. My Dad was a policeman and...

A man called Colin McClatchie (an employee in the Belfast Telegraph's circulation department in the Seventies) is writing a book about his newspaper experiences - he went on to become a leading media director with Thomsson and Rupert Murdoch. He made contact with Ed Curran, former BT editor, to get information about journalists who worked with Roy Lilley at the time he was editor.
He was keen to know names and titles and a list was prepared for him which reads like an all our yesterdays now.
Here's the list of editorial management back then:
Roy Lilley, Editor
Edmund Curran, Deputy Editor
Jim Gray, Assistant Editor
Desmond McMullen, Assistant/Production Editor
Norman Jenkinson, News Editor
Martin Lindsay, Deputy News Editor
Tom Carson Features Editor
Malcolm Brodie Sports Editor.
Edward Sterling snr, Photographic Editor
Samuel McMurray, Chief Sub-Editor
We remember them all and happily three are still with us enjoying life.

Well, we're still here and happy about it, too ... Thanks to the response to our fret about the future, the copyboys blog got a positive answer in spades and that hand has dealt another issue at Mr Hack 163 ... it was time to change up because of the number of comments we have been loading i...

Time for a new Mr Hack and we've reached 162 in the scheme of things ... Our image is a comic one and an example of a photographer's wit and skill in capturing the moment for it probably only lasted a moment somewhere ... the news breaking today is that Johnston Press owners among other thin...

With this rush of attention I am moved to put up in our copyboys photo album, Journos at Large - 2 a new photo I see of the Belfast Telegraph Teletubbies - ex sports members - out for a pint and lunch at Cutter's Wharf recently. They all look wel.

Time for a new Mr Hack and we've reached 162 in the scheme of things ... Our image is a comic one and an example of a photographer's wit and skill in capturing the moment for it probably only lasted a moment somewhere ... the news breaking today is that Johnston Press owners among other thin...

It was a sad, solemn occasion but Ronnie Harper's funeral today at Bangor's Lisnabreen Presbyterian Church was also filled with laughter because all the speakers from Ronnie's son to his best and long-time friend to the minister all remembered vividly his sense of humor and smiling personality. And remember they did - with funny stories he told and the Rev Sam Castles even recalled applying to become the church's minister and having to face the rather serious expression of the elder listening to him: that was Ronnie. Mr Castles and Ronnie soon became friends. He got the job.
A large number of friends and acquaintances were present from the church itself and various sports bodies and sporting clubs that Ronnie knew from his reporting days and participating in like Pickie Bowls club.
The list of old colleagues and friends from the Belfast Telegraph included Robert Fenton, John Campbell, Denis Baxter, Sammy Hammill, Graham Hamilton, Water Macauley, Lyle Jackson, Roy Shephard, David Kelly, Colin McMullan, Trevor Martin, Roy Smyth, Martin Lindsay, Bobby Ingram, Fred Hoare, Stewart McKinlay, Eddie Sterling jnr. and Terry Smith.
Again we extend condolences to Ronnie's widow, Helen who was a tower of strength over the ten years that Ronnie suffered from his illness.

Time for a new Mr Hack and we've reached 162 in the scheme of things ... Our image is a comic one and an example of a photographer's wit and skill in capturing the moment for it probably only lasted a moment somewhere ... the news breaking today is that Johnston Press owners among other thin...

Well remembered Alistair. I haven't seen what's been written but expected Jim Gracey to write an appreciation which may appear yet. Ronnie was a great character and the skill he had is missed nowadays.

Time for a new Mr Hack and we've reached 162 in the scheme of things ... Our image is a comic one and an example of a photographer's wit and skill in capturing the moment for it probably only lasted a moment somewhere ... the news breaking today is that Johnston Press owners among other thin...

Time for a new Mr Hack and we've reached 162 in the scheme of things ... Our image is a comic one and an example of a photographer's wit and skill in capturing the moment for it probably only lasted a moment somewhere ... the news breaking today is that Johnston Press owners among other thin...

It's always good to bring good news and that is someone being unwell but then returning to good health and getting surrounded by old friends and colleagues who want to wish you well. That's the topic of this new Mr Hack - and the man in question is Danny Kerr, one of the Belfast Telegraph...

It can't have helped sales, but there was no Belfast Telegraph to purchase today where I live and my newsagent informed me that he wasn't going to ring Cork to find out why because they wouldn't know either and would make him hang on till they found out if the van has crashed (again) into another ditch. Strange way to run a newspaper and running that part of the operation in Cork.

It's always good to bring good news and that is someone being unwell but then returning to good health and getting surrounded by old friends and colleagues who want to wish you well. That's the topic of this new Mr Hack - and the man in question is Danny Kerr, one of the Belfast Telegraph...

A new month and a new Mr Hack, again featuring the faces of old friends and colleagues and this time from two sections of any newspaper ... the snappers or much preferred name, the Photographers and the other the Sports Dept. and all looking well in their advancing age an enjoy a glass o...

A new month and a new Mr Hack, again featuring the faces of old friends and colleagues and this time from two sections of any newspaper ... the snappers or much preferred name, the Photographers and the other the Sports Dept. and all looking well in their advancing age an enjoy a glass o...

Could I remind contributors that the Preview button has a habit of deleting messages rather than allowing you to see and review what you've written.... I have asked Typepad to investigate but every time they do they seem to find it to be working fine. My suggestion again is when you write something, scroll over it and hit Control C. At least, then if you Preview your message and it disappears you can then go back into the message box and hit Control V to have yuour lost message returned. Thanks...

Hello there ... this time we celebrate remembering old colleagues and friends and two in particular who were very popular and successful at their trade, reporting the news and editing it for readers to enjoy...The men in question are Jack Bennett and Norman Jenkinson who feature in both...

Yes. Chichester was indeed the old name when it was just a daily column. I'm still searching memory banks for a forgotten name of a fella who also contributed. I only noticed the reverse block announcing the Ulster Log would return in the New Year. Maybe it will be governed by a female journalist now there's one in charge o the shop.

The Ulster Log ...now there’s a name to remember and the people, all men who wrote it over the years ... No females did it that I can recall and no females were invited to write it either. Names come back to me... Bob Shaw, Neil Johnston, an early owner of the title Godfrey Fitzsimmons... th...

OUR dear Chairman sent this a while back to me to try and keep me calm over the Christmas period ... It is an amusing epistle and I thought it appropriate to use it as an illustration for this Christmas edition's 'thank you' and 'best wishes to all our contributors'. Another year is coming t...

In my search for information about Tom Burns I fired off a number of emails with pix of the man and even telehoned the home of Roy Lilly - a man with a good memory of people at the Belfast Telegraph. I discovered that Roy has been in hosital for a while now and unwell and I got to speak to him and to wish him well and to wish him personally a speedy recovery to better health. Happily, he was in a cheerful mood and asked that I send out from him his best wishes to all fellow copyboy contributors who might see and read this....job done.

An email from Maurice Reid alerted me to the news that a new book was being launched. The new book, it turns out, is written by an old friend Jim McDowell and it is called The Good Fight with a subtitle on its cover: From Bullets to By-lines - 45 Years Face-to-Face with Terror. Happily Jim...

Emails from Alastair came be amusing and worrying and sometimes quite dynamic like this mornings which contained a bunch of photographs of various lorry containers carring our human waste to disposal points throught the British Isles ....we thought it funny and thought others not in receipt of the email might be amused to with this, to quote Alastair,'crappy sense of humour...' You will find in the the albums with the title, Poo Puns...

An email from Maurice Reid alerted me to the news that a new book was being launched. The new book, it turns out, is written by an old friend Jim McDowell and it is called The Good Fight with a subtitle on its cover: From Bullets to By-lines - 45 Years Face-to-Face with Terror. Happily Jim...

I still remember when the Telegraph decided to go multi section and I was asked to prepare a dummy edition. I led the second section with sport because I thought of it as news in shorts and it was a topical/newsy thing with possibly great pictures. That idea was rejected. Features had to lead the second section. Sport would still be on the back and despite my best to put them in more visible places efforts BMDs and TV were buried in the paper. I always remember saying that the paper would have to be thicker, more pages. That didn't happen either. The result was the scheme was abandoned not long after it was started but with a heavy loss in sales. Older readers couldn't find the TV and they thought we hadn't published the BMDs! A small pagination when separated does not appear good value. The boss at the time wanted to modernise the paper but it was for a new readership who weren't buying it and didn't either.

A while back Kevin Myers wrote a column in the Sunday Times which got him the sack. A week after that the Sunday Times published letters supporting their action to dismiss the naughty man who suggested that two television personalities Vanessa Feltz and Claudie Winkleman had large BBC salarie...

Apologies Roy, but you were quoted in a very comprehensive news story by Noel McAdam who produced a second story when Tony Blair came up with sympathy too. The 'official obituary' was being done by someone else you know well and when I asked him about sending me a copy of it, he replied:".... I think it was a matter of being overtaken by events" ... so no official obit was done, it was felt possibily by the power that be that coverage done was enough. Sad decision, I thought.

Sometimes in newspapers you see stories placed beside other stories or advertisements and you think, 'Hmmmm....maybe that was not a good idea.' It can happen more often with the design placing of images. That thought struck me when I was shown the News Letter's front page someone I know had...

Yes. The building Frames used was previously Graphic Plates where photographic images were supplied to the Telegraph and I often had to go there to seek help from the manager Billy Britten, a real decent gentleman of the old school

Sometimes in newspapers you see stories placed beside other stories or advertisements and you think, 'Hmmmm....maybe that was not a good idea.' It can happen more often with the design placing of images. That thought struck me when I was shown the News Letter's front page someone I know had...

Many thanks to Mitchell who kindly sent to us his collection of front pages and these three examples are tasters for the rest which we shall put into an album, appropriately called Mitchell's Front Page News and it will be set up later in the day or tomorrow. I have several copie...

Yes. Sad news indeed about Austin. I remember him with fondness for his generosity of spirit and he was a gentleman of high order. I'm away at the moment but will find a tribute for publication here if one puts one up before I get back.

Another month has gone in our memory banks and I trust your bank is as full as mine with goodies/baddies to remember ... Not a day goes past without me muttering. 'What's the world coming to....' then I awake and realise it is not a dream but a nightmare. So I though it was time for a bi...

I've just put up a photo of the cover of Peter McMullan's new book, Casting Back - Sixty Years of Fishing and Writing (about it) in the Belfast Telegraph. Old hands will know Peter whose other work pastime was writing about rugby and sport. Good luck with the sales, Peter. Ps ... when looking at the blog yesterday I couldn't help but spot an amazon advertisement for another book by another old friend, Ivan Little ... The promo for it read "From one of Northern Ireland's most recognisable and popular journalists comes this frank and entertaining memoir. Charting his entrance into the world of local journalism, and covering his breaking of major news stories, Ivan Little presents a telling glimpse at life from behind the microphone."

Another month has gone in our memory banks and I trust your bank is as full as mine with goodies/baddies to remember ... Not a day goes past without me muttering. 'What's the world coming to....' then I awake and realise it is not a dream but a nightmare. So I though it was time for a bi...

We got another email and the result of it is the change to the current Mr Hack and the introduction of another photo and caption....The email from our good friend and old colleague Eddie Sterling jnr:Hi, John,
Colin McMullan and I paid a visit to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum today (Wed). We enjoyed the Titanic exhibits, and the trams etc, but really we were there to see the restored Belfast Telegraph Derry van.
I remember seeing the van in the Tele garage in Stephen Street, looking very forlorn, covered in dust and pigeon droppings.
One of Colin's uncles - Stewart Duffin - drove the van for many years (remember Dan Duffin, he was related to Colin).
Colin told me that, when Stewart retired, a colleague had worked out that, in his time, he had driven the equivalent of to the Moon and back. That's more than 475,000 miles! Great yarn.
I have attached a couple of pix. On my behalf would you cobble together a few pars for The Copyboys .... Mission accomplished and thanks for remembering us. Cheers.

THIS IS A BIT OF A HISTORY LESSON AND WE ARE GRATEFUL TO JOHN DEVINE FOR HAVING PUT IT UP ON HIS FACEBOOK PAGE A WHILE BACK AND WE THOUGHT IT MIGHT LIKE A PERMANENT PLACE AT THE COPYBOYS .... Back row (l to r) Ivan Thompson ( then with the Londonderry Sentinel) Bobby Burnet ( then in the De...

Sorry, but I like the blog to carry details and stories about newspapers etc like the one above I've just put up a moment or so ago. In yesterday's Daily Telegraph the lead item in the Features section carried the headline, All life is here, in our obituaries and it was a good, entertaining piece by the paper's obituaries editor, Andrew M. Brown - about changes to the paper's obituaries page brought about 30 years ago by Hugh Massingberd, appointed to the post by the then editor, Max Hastings. My delay in getting it up here, or a link to it was caused by the the paper seemingly to have stopped having a Search panel on its website. If there is one, I can't see or find it. By other search means I found the piece and here's a link to it:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/08/31/all-life-is-here-30-years-of-telegraph-obituaries/
Read and enjoy.

Another photograph which marks the passage of time at the Belfast Telegraph ... last time it was the 'oldtimers' (former members of staff, but not all of them old) ... this time it is the the current staff and some freelancers saying goodbye to the building before their move to the paper's ...

A moment to enjoy: Eddie McIlwaine, John Caruth .... and Phil Coulter signing his autograph. Out of my own archive ... a rare mono photo of Eddie McIlwaine enjoying himself along the Dublin Road in Belfast at an eaterie sometime in the past and with him your kindly Blogmaster John Caruth and t...